Gearing.



PA'TENTED MAY 26, 1908.

A. P. ROCKWBLL.

GEARIN G.

APPLIGATION FILED 09T. 9, 1905.

` UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

ALBERT F. ROCKWELL, 'OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE NEW DEPARTUREy -MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CON- N ECTICUT.

'GEAR-ING.

- Patented May 2c, loos.

Application flied october e, 1905. serial No. 281,960.

To all whom 'it may concern: Y

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. RocKwELL, a citizen of the United States, residin at Bristol, county of Hartford, State of onnecticut, have invented a'certain new and useful Gearing, of which the following lis a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it,

appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to the general class of gearing and particularly to a caring in which a driving element and a ment are employed, with means connecting them wherebypower is communicatedfrom one to the other.

vOne of the objects of my invention is to provide means whereby Vthe connecting means, here shown as a band will be held taut irrespective of any relative movement of one of the elements with respect to the other.'

Another object'of the kinvention is to provide means whereby the gearing will be protected from dust, dirt and from the l elements, so as to avoid any. deterioration on account'of foreign substances coming into contact with the driven element,'the driving element or the complementary parts ofthe gearing.

A further object is to provide means where-` by one of the elements may have a movement relative to the other in suchy a mannei` that the slack in the band.r or chain Which connects said elements may be' taken .up

automatically and controlled by the movable element.

A further object is tolplrovide a ilexible gearing which will permit the variation in the relative'position of the two elements `and at the same time efficiently'protect the band and elements heretofore mentioned in the I nates a frame or guard section which may be manner of a gear case.

By accomplishing the above objects I aim to overcome the annoyance and inconvenience resulting Jfrom the adherence of gritty substances, such as sand, which sometimes iven eleelement.

l position of one'of the elements with relation to the other, lwhich has been experienced heretofore. For example, it has generally been the practice to accommodate-the strain, jars'andmovements of the driving element lwith-.relation to the driven element by pivotallyyconnecting the driven element and its motorbase bymeans of distance rods. The object of such arrangement was to retain the motor base and driven element a certain *predetermined distance apart during any relative movement of the driving element,

and on .account of the absence of lateral movement of the engine considerable strain was imposed through 'the distance rods upon the driven element so as to bend or spring the latter, soasto soon cause a rominent Set or boul to be presented in thev iven ele'- ment.- By the use of a construction worked out in accordance with my invention these objections are overcome, and any strains on the driven element, or evenupon the driving element, other than those to which they would be subjected in communicating motion from one to the other, would be reduced to a minimum, if not wholly eliminated.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a top plan view of a device constructed in accordance with my invention and Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view through the same. 9

In order to convey a proper idea of the novel arrangement of myl invention, I have ill-ustratedit as being applicable for a motor 'vehicle gearing, and in such a manner that boththe front and rearA axles-are driven from a single drive shaft,- It is obvious, however, that the same generic principle would be involved Whether one or a plurality of driven elements received motion from zthe driving Referring now to they drawings, A desigsecured to any suitable movable support, which we will suppose to be the body of a motor vehicle. The frame is provided with inclined ways or guides 1, which are arranged in the side walls of the frame, said guides re ceiving the parts of the flexible gear casing or dust guard to be referred to hereinafter.

Mounted in iixed bearings 2, in the frame A, is a'drive shaft 8, which drive shaft may receive vmotion from a suitable motor, not' shown. .Onjhe' drive shaft y3, are a suitable erably carry a sprocket 6 rotatable therewith and around which a band or chain 7 may pass, said chain also passing around one of the sprockets 4 on the drive shaft 3.

Inasmuch as I have illustrated the device as being-applicable for a double drive, and in view of the fact that the mechanism on one side of the shaft 3 is substantially the same as that on the opposite side, the description and numerals applicable to the mechanism on one side will be equally applicable to the mechanism on the o posite side, and I shall, therefore, describe o y one set of mechanism coperating with the frame A and the driving element 3. The guard section 8 of the gear case or dust guard is of roper conformation to incase the rigid riven element 5 and its sprocket 6. The member 8 is provided with an enlargement 9, intermediate its ends, and terminates toward the frame A in a iiared portion or socket 11 to receive the enlarged extremity 18 of the connecting member or intermediate guard section 10; which con- A4nectls the members A and 8. This member 10 is in the form of a box girder, the side webs being ofl greater distance intermediate their ends than at their extremities, so as to providea maximum strength to said member 10, for obvious reasons. The said webs may be additionally strengthened by the struts 12,`

which connect y the opposite webs in each connecting member. The end of the connecting member 10, distant from the member 8, is provided with an enlargement or head 18', corresponding to the enlargement 18 ttin in the flared portion or socket 11. The hea 18 engages a recess or socket in a sliding shoe 13, which is movable in the\in clined guide 1. By this arrangement the shaft and its appurtenances, the chain or band, and the driven member 5 and its appurtenances are all securely rotected against contact of dust, dirt or of t e elements, and these parts will be protected against rust and deterioration due to the atmospheric conditpn which might otherwise tend to affect t em.

For the purpose of illustration it is to be` rigid on the running gear, is to bey driven by the driving'member 3, It would follow, therefore, that as the body of the vehicle x and onwhic The driven member 5, which vibrated in a vertical direction above the runnin gear the slack in the band or chain would gbecome greater when the body was nearest the running gear, and would have-a tendency to become taut when the body moved away from the running gear. In view of the fact that` inconvenience may be caused by such successive and intermittent tightening and slackening of the chain, I have found it advisable to provide some means for automatically taking up the slack .in the chain and letting it out as occasion may demand.

'A sim le form of accomplishing this is illustrate in the drawing, consisting of a shaft 17 which may pass through the webs of the adjacent sections 8 and 10 of the gear case and thus'forma ivotal connector between them,

Eis mounted a curved crank arm `19, carrying an idler pulley 20, said curved arm and idler being within the gear case.

On the outside `of the gear case is a crank arm 21, placed at an angle different to the angle of'inclination ofthe crank arm 19. The end of this crank arm 21 is connected-to a pitman or rod 22, which in turn is pivotally secured to one endof a stub shaft 22a, carried by the frame or guard section A. This pitman or rod 22 may be made of two sections with an intermediately arranged turn-buckle 23 connecting them, so that the pro er adjustment maybe made to initially position the idler-carrying arm for taking u the slack.

As the frame and driving e ement are in planes higher than the plane of the driven element it will follow that as the axis of the driving element and the frame move toward a parallel lane throu h the axis of the driven element, t e distance etween the axes ofthe driven and driving elements will become less therefore, the chain or bandfwill have more or less slack which it is desirableto take up. This will be automatically attended to by the mechanism which I have designated vas a slack adjuster, and which, in the illustrated embodiment of my invention7 includes the rod 22, the shaft 17, the arms 21 and 19 and the idler 20. When the distance between the driving element and 4the driven element becomes lessened, the rod 22 will have a longitudinal movement imparted thereto in the direction of the driven element causing the idler' 20 to be raised or lowered according to Whether the chain is in rear or in front of the frame A, but in either event the movement imparted to theidler will take up the slack in the chain so as .to kee it relatively taut and. prevent its becoming displaced from the sprockets 4 or 6. As soon as the frame A moves back to its former position or to a position distant from the running gear so that the distance between the driving element 3 and the driven element 5 is increased,

lll)

Cal

a greater length' of chain or band will he4 vrequired and, therefore, the rod 22 Will ist . see-,15a

v cles lis, merely for t e purpose of conveying a proper idea' of the operation of the device, as it is obvious that it may be applied in other y capacities without materially altering its construction ordeparting from the generic principles involved'. For example, the driven element 5 might be arranged vertically, and

the frame A might have a horizontal instead of a vertical movement. ttention is also called tothe erfectly novel adjustment of the dust guar Ior gear case, which permits the relative movements of the driven and driving elements without affecting the effi-V ciency of the gear case, and this is best accomplished by providing the sliding shoe inthe guides 1, in which the connecting element 10 is carried and connecting this element 10 to the member 8 of the gear case, so that practically a universal joint is provided at oth ends of the member 10, er'mitting a variation in the movement ofp one of the members with relation to the other and at the same time wholly incasing all of the parts so as to rotect them.

at claim is:

1. The combination with a driving member and a driven member, one of these being movable with relation to the other, and a driving connectionA between said members, of a slack take-up support having independent movement imparted theretov when one of the saidmembers moves, and a slack take-upI carried by said support and movable with respect thereto; substantially as described.

2. The combination with a driving member and a driven member, one of these being movable with relation to the. other, anda driving connection between said members, of a slack take-up support having independent movement imparted thereto when one of the said members moves, a slack take-up carried by said and movable with respectthereto, and arr-l actuator for moving said take-up inrproportion to the movement -of the movable member, substantially as described. 1

3. The combination of a driving element, a driven element, one of said elements having motion towardand away from the other thereof, connecting means. between said driving and driven elements for communicating motion from one to the other thereof, and a flexibly jointed guard member for said connectin means; substantially as described.

4.x T e combination with two shafts and.

)la I means for communicating motion from one shaft to the other, one of said shafts having movement toward and away from the other,

of a iiexibly jointed gear case incasing the said means and the connected parts of lsaid shafts; substantially as described.

5. The combination with two shafts, one

`of which is movable toward and away froml the other, of a exible gear case for incasing parts Aof said shafts, means for operably connecting said shafts, said means composing a band, and a slack take-up within the gear vcase forv maintaining the band taut irre- .'spectiveof, the variation in spaceexisting between the twoshafts, substantially as de scribed. l Y

6. The combination with a driving element, -a driven element, and a driving connector between said elements, one of said elements having movement toward and away from the. other thereof, of a movable guard member, a movable slack take-up for said driving connector, and means whereby movement of said guard member causes operative movement of said slack take-up; substantially as described.

7. The combination with a driving element, a drivenl element, and a driving connector between said elements, lone of said elements having movement toward and away fromvthe other thereof, of a movable guard member for said driving connector, a

. movable slack take-up for said driving connector and carried by said guard member,

and means for operating said take-up upon relative movement between said first two mentioned elements; substantially as described.

8.,The\combination with a .driving ele-l ment, a'driven element, and a driving connector between said elements, one of said elements having movement toward and away from the other thereof, of. a' movable guard member for said drivingi movable slack take-up for sai driving con- 'nectorand 'carried by said guard member, vand-operatlve connectlon between said slack take-up and a part with relation to which said vguard member is movableysubstantially as described.

9.v The combination of a driven shaft and a driving shaft therefor, one of* said shafts havin movement toward and away from the ot er, a band for communicating 'motion iexible gear case incasing a portion of the respective shafts andthe band, and a slack take-up carried by the Vgear case and operable by the driving shaft to maintain the bandltaut irrespective of an movement'of the driving shaft; substantia y as described.

connector, a

from the driving shaft to the driven shaft, a l

. of said guard member, and operative connecsupport, and a dust uard member for pro.

tecting the shaft at t e opposite end of the band dust guard and having a recess into which the end of the band, dust guard iits; substantially as described.

11. The combination with a driving ele- `ment, a driven element, and a driving connector between said elements, one of said elements having movement toward and away from the. other thereof, of a sectional guard member, a movable slack take-up for said driving connector and carried by one section tion between said slack take-up and another section of said guard member with relation to which said other section said first nienguard member, and a slack take-up mountedl upon said pivotal element; substantially as described.

13. The combination with a driving element, a driven. element, and a driving connector between said elements, one of said elements having movement toward and away from the other thereof, of a guard section for one of said elements, a guard section for the other thereof, an intermediate uard section flexibly connected to one of sai first mentioned two guard sections, a pivotal member between said intermediate guard section and the other of said irst mentioned two guard sections, a movable slack take-'up mounted upon said pivotal member, and operative connection between said slack take-up and said guard section to which said intermediate section is flexibly connected substantially as described. f

' 14. A movable dust guard comprising telescopic sections movable one Within the other thereofgsubstantially as described.

15. In a dust guard, a section, a slide movable therein, and a second section rockable on said slide; substantially as described.

16. A dust guard comprising a member having a slide,` a tubular member having one end engaging said slide, and a third member movably connectedto the tubular member; substantially as described.

17. The combination of a driving element, driven elements upon opposite sides thereof, a driving connector between said driving. element andeach of ysaid driven elements, there bein relative movement between said driving element and said driven elements to vary the relative positions of said elements,` and oppositely operating slack take-ups whose motion Vdepends upon said relative movement,'said take-ups coperatin with said driving connectors substantia ly as described. y. I

18. In a device of the class described, the

combination with the front and rear axles of a vehicle, of a motor shaft above said axles and having movement 1n a vertical plane,

`chains connecting the motorshaft with the front and rear axles whereby motion will be communicated from the motor shaft to the said axles, and oppositely operating slack take-ups whose motion depends uponv the motion of the motor shaft, so as to take up or let out slack in the chains as required on- Y account of the movement of the motor shaft;

substantially as described.

19. The combination of a driving element,

a driven element, one of said elements being movable toward and away from the other thereof, a driving connector between said elements, a movable guard member for said driving connector, and a slack take-up for saidydriving connector and carried by said guard member; substantially as described.

20. In a device of the class described, the combination with a driving element and adriv'en element, one of these being movable with relation to the other, of means for communicating motion from one of said elements to the other, a gear case for incasing the means for communicating motion between the said two elements, and a slack take-up carried by the gear case for maintaining taut thesaid means for communicating motion irrespective of variation in space existing between the said two elements; lsubstantially as described.

. In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature, in the resence of two witnesses.

AL ERT F. ROCKWELL.

Witnesses:

CHAs. R. RILEY, JOSEPH D. BROWN. 

